After reading everything here and in the article, I wanted to address some of the questions swirling around about this.
There were many factors in deciding if we locked domains or kept domains locked in the India case between Mr. Oxley and Mr. Agarwal.
For instance, a U.S. federal court denied Mr. Oxley’s request for an order requiring GoDaddy to unlock the domains. If Mr. Oxley had been able to obtain a court order requiring us to unlock the domains, we would have gladly done it. The fact he was unable to do so suggests how much more complicated this issue is than is mentioned in the article. It’s not just monetary issues, but demands for the cancellation of the domain registrations at issue.
We understand how important your domain names are to you. We don’t make the decision to lock or unlock any domain name lightly. GoDaddy, along with other registrars, like NameCheap, Web.com, MarkMonitor and even VeriSign, reserve the right to lock domains in response to notification of a legal dispute.
In fact, it is the industry standard to ensure that registration rights for domain names are protected and maintained during the pendency of a legal dispute. Locking domains protects all parties until the legal dispute is resolved.
We also want to assure everyone that when a domain is locked, the goal is to keep the registration information at status quo. If the registrant would like to make changes to their DNS, they can contact our team to make them. They are able to renew the domain names. The domain and any associated web/mail services continue to function normally.
We understand Mr. Oxley’s frustration. No one wants to be in this situation, but the systems that we and the industry have in place are there for your protection.
Hi Paul,
You said "For instance, a U.S. federal court denied Mr. Oxley’s request for an order requiring GoDaddy to unlock the domains."
Let me understand this.....
Part of why you locked my domains before January 9th, 2020 is because of what a judge said 10 months later on 11/24/2020? The Judge wanted to make sure Puneet was served and requested proof of service, which required us to get a Hague certificate. It's not easy to serve someone in India that doesn't want to be served. We just received the Hague certificate back a few days ago, and the case can now proceed in America to get you the court order that you demand. This has also been Covid times with lockdowns, court shutdowns, and all kinds of uncertainty delaying a court order.
I have some questions for you........
Godaddy initially claimed there was a court order to lock my domains.
- Is Godaddy continuing to take the stance that there is a court order to lock my domains? yes or no, please.
- Is this an official response from Godaddy? Yes or No, please.
- Did you have to get permission from GoDaddy prior to this post?
- Have you seen any signed contracts between Puneet or myself? Yes or no.
- I requested this to be escalated to your CEO back in March of 2020. Is he aware of this situation? Yes or no answer, please.
" If the registrant would like to make changes to their DNS, they can contact our team to make them.
6. If this is true, why did you all ignore my request on December 8th, 2020 to change my DNS for detect.com? I still haven't had a response from you on this! This is one of the domain names I have sold pending your locks being lifted. Can you please make the emailed change request?
7. Why did you all take the courtesy to respond to Puneet when you locked my domains, and yet as a customer, you never notified me? You failed to inform me on both the original locks and the recent one of create.com a few weeks ago. Godaddy still hasn't responded to my email from February 19th on why create.com was locked. Can you please tell me why? Was there another imaginary court order you aren't able to produce?
"They are able to renew the domain names. "
I am not able to renew the locked domains, which is why I emailed you on april 21st, 2020, requesting you all to do so. You still have not renewed these names. You all ensured they would be auto-renewed at expiration; however, I do not feel comfortable considering how incompetent you all have been to date. Can you please renew these names for me as requested using the balance I have on file!!!
" but demands for the cancellation of the domain registrations at issue.
This is the first I've heard this! Why am I just now being told this on a public forum? The way I'm interrupting this, is now that all this has gone public, there's a chance that over $10mm worth of my domains may be deleted by godaddy????? PLEASE DO NOT DELETE MY DOMAINS!
I may not be able to respond for a day or two. It's my 38th birthday in a few hours, and I'm set to go off-grid camping with my five-year-old little girl any minutes now when she arrives from Houston. I plan on climbing a small mountain tomorrow that should have recpetion and hope to check in at such time if needed.